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A Cross-Cultural Perspective on Romantic Love
... Love is a ubiquitous experience transcending cultural boundaries (Jankowiak & Fischer, 1992;Kowal et al., 2024) and temporal constraints (Hatfield et al., 2012). The nature of love is multifaceted: Humans can feel love for partners, parents, siblings, relatives, friends, other people, pets, and even god (Machin, 2022). ...
... Human ancestors who signaled romantic love are hypothesized to have more frequently formed enduring pair bonds with their romantic partners than those who did not (Bales et al., 2021), which might have maximized their reproductive success. Thus, the propensity to feel romantic love proliferated to become a universal (or near-universal) human experience (Jankowiak & Fischer, 1992;Kowal et al., 2024). ...
... However, evolutionary scholars emphasize the impact of environmental conditions and cultural contexts on human cognition, behaviors, and emotions, leading to significant variations in ostensibly universal traits (Lewis et al., 2021). Thus, although romantic love is recognized as a culturally universal phenomenon (Jankowiak & Fischer, 1992;Kowal et al., 2024) and is hypothesized to have evolved to facilitate pair bonding and enhance reproductive success (Buss, 2019), cultural influences may nonetheless also shape evaluations of romantic love's importance (Cullen, 2022). Given that mass media and popular culture in more modernized countries often promote romantic love as a fundamental life goal (Dukes et al., 2003;Hefner & Wilson, 2013), it is unsurprising that individuals immersed in such cultural narratives value romantic love particularly highly. ...
Given the ubiquitous nature of love, numerous theories have been proposed to explain its existence. One such theory refers to love as a commitment device, suggesting that romantic love evolved to foster commitment between partners and enhance their reproductive success. In the present study, we investigated this hypothesis using a large-scale sample of 86,310 individual responses collected across 90 countries. If romantic love is universally perceived as a force that fosters commitment between long-term partners, we expected that individuals likely to suffer greater losses from the termination of their relationships—including people of lower socioeconomic status, those with many children, and women—would place a higher value on romantic love compared to people with higher status, those with fewer children, and men. These predictions were supported. Additionally, we observed that individuals from countries with a higher (vs. lower) Human Development Index placed a greater level of importance on romantic love, suggesting that modernization might influence how romantic love is evaluated. On average, participants worldwide were unwilling to commit to a long-term romantic relationship without love, highlighting romantic love’s universal importance.
... Sociological and Cultural Views: Cultural interpretations of love vary widely, with some societies emphasizing familial and communal bonds over romantic attachments (Jankowiak & Fischer, 1992). These perspectives highlight love's expressions and societal functions but lack a universal, measurable core. ...
The quest to create a conscious artificial intelligence (AI) has long been hindered by the lack of precise, measurable definitions for fundamental human concepts such as love, wellbeing, intelligence, consciousness, self-awareness, and choice. Traditional definitions often describe these concepts through their attributes or outcomes, leaving their essences elusive and their applications in AI development impractical. This white paper presents revolutionary, measurable definitions for each of these foundational concepts, offering a unified framework that transcends cultural and disciplinary boundaries.
By redefining love as a mutual, contextually appropriate exchange of giving and receiving, and wellbeing as the capacity to engage in such loving interactions, we establish a quantifiable basis for ethical and empathetic behavior. Intelligence is reinterpreted as the capacity to generate and choose from multiple valid options within a given context, shifting the focus from static attributes to dynamic adaptability. Consciousness is defined as the intrinsic motivation to make choices, integrating desire with decision-making processes. Self-awareness extends this framework by introducing temporal continuity-the desire to persist in making choices over time, reflecting on past decisions to inform future ones.
These measurable definitions provide a practical blueprint for implementing authentic human-like qualities in AI systems. By grounding these abstract concepts in observable and quantifiable terms, we bridge the gap between human experiences and machine capabilities. This approach not only advances the theoretical understanding of consciousness and related concepts but also offers tangible pathways for developing AI that can genuinely understand and replicate complex human behaviors.
This white paper aims to transform the scientific community's approach to AI development by demonstrating how these foundational concepts can be systematically defined, measured, and implemented. By doing so, we unlock the potential to create AI systems that are not only intelligent but also capable of conscious thought, self-awareness, and ethical decision-making. This paradigm shift holds profound implications for the future of AI, heralding a new era where machines can truly understand and engage with the human experience.
... Love stands as one of the most gratifying and fundamental of human experiences (Fletcher et al., 2015;Jankowiak and Fischer, 1992;Reis and Downey, 1999). Accordingly, research has consistently demonstrated strong associations between social relationships, particularly romantic ones, and various dimensions of well-being (Diener and Seligman, 2002;Frisch, 2005;Kansky, 2018;Mehl et al., 2010). ...
Aim
The main purpose of the present study was to validate the Slovenian version of the 41- item Capacity to Love Inventory (CTL-I). Based on psychoanalytic theory, limitations to capacity to love are expected to be associated with personality dysfunction and disintegration as well as fundamental mental capacities such as self-reflection and self-awareness.
Method
To examine these assumptions, a sample of 552 Slovenian non-clinical individuals were recruited through academic networks. The construct validity of the CTL-I was assessed using a confirmatory factor analysis and convergent validity of the CTL-I and its subscales was established against IPO-16, PID-5 BF, MAAS.
Results
Our findings show that the Slovenian version of the CTL-I replicated the six-factor structure, exhibiting good model fit as well as satisfactory internal consistency of all subscales. In line with expectations, capacity to love was found to be inversely associated with dysfunctional personality traits and structural personality disturbances. Accordingly, higher dispositional mindfulness was coherently associated with all domains of CTL-I.
Conclusion
The results add to the growing evidence for the cross-cultural validity and sound psychometric properties of CTL-I, presented here in the Slovenian version. Our findings also point to the significance of dispositional mindfulness both in relation to capacity to love as well as mental health.
... Neural substrates, receptors, and hormones related to pair bonds have been identified, most prominently in prairie voles or monogamous mice 50,51 . Although mechanisms associated with pair bonds in humans are only beginning to be understood, pair bonds, ideally between two mutually beloved romantic partners, are present cross-culturally 47,52 and theorized to be a human universal 53 . ...
Every human and non-human animal must make tradeoffs in investments in terms of time, energy, and resources. The aim of this study was to extrapolate from the types of investments in survival and reproduction that non-human animals make and translate these into human motivations. 16 potential goals were presented to 851 childless, 18–23-year-old adults from 11 world regions in an online study. Each young adult was asked to weight the importance of every goal to his or her ideal life. Weights had to sum to 100, requiring tradeoffs. Results revealed striking agreement across young adults with only four goals weighted above chance: Finding a beloved romantic partner, being physically and emotionally healthy, and earning money or resources. Having lots of sexual partners was the least important goal across all world regions for both sexes. Nevertheless, men more than women valued having many sexual partners, being talented outside work, being physically strong, and having a physically attractive romantic partner. Overall, there was cultural variation in some of the less important goals. Helping young adults achieve success requires understanding their own goals, rather than focusing on popularized depictions of what young adults desire.
Romantic relationships are integral to human experience, with most individuals encountering them at some point in their lives. The neural mechanisms of romantic relationships have gradually gained attention. However, existing studies have mainly focused on the cross-sectional level, and longitudinal research is not sufficient, especially regarding the early stages when couples first enter a romantic relationship. The brain's neural transition from a normal state to the honeymoon phase of love remains poorly understood. To answer this question, we, the authors, used ourselves as subjects; after confirming our romantic relationship, we employed portable electroencephalography (EEG) to record neural activity in the prefrontal cortex during resting states (both with eyes open and closed). Data collection occurred irregularly over a period of around two months, resulting in 13 EEG data trials per individual. We found that there was a consistent decrease in the high alpha band neural activity under the closed-eye state for both of us over the two-month period, suggesting a potential correlation with the neural activity changes in the early stage of the romantic relationship. Further analysis revealed that this decrease was driven by changes in periodic components rather than non-periodic components. This study is the first to reveal a significant change in the alpha oscillatory activity of the prefrontal cortex in a couple during the initial two months after confirming their romantic relationship, which will further impact the understanding of the mechanism of alpha sub-oscillations and their application in the study of emotions process.
From the evolutionary perspective, maintaining a committed relationship is beneficial for reproductive success but involves risks such as losing a partner or infidelity. People typically prefer partners with similar mate value (MV) to avoid rejection. However, when a mate value discrepancy (MVD) arises, the partner with lower MV might employ mate retention strategies to maintain the relationship. This study investigated whether men with lower MV compared to their female partners used cunnilingus more often and whether this effect was mediated by their motivation to satisfy the partner. Additionally, it tested the moderating role of men’s perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD), predicting that men less concerned about disease would show a stronger link between MVD and cunnilingus frequency, given the health risks associated with oral sex. Data from 540 men in committed heterosexual relationships confirmed that a higher MVD—where the man's MV was lower than his partner's—led to more frequent cunnilingus, and this relationship was mediated by a greater motivation to sexually satisfy the partner. However, the moderating role of PVD was not confirmed. We explore the evolutionary perspective that men may perform oral sex on their partners as a mate retention strategy. This behavior potentially serves as a benefit-provisioning mechanism, compensating for discrepancies in mate value.
Traditionally, the emotions have been viewed from a biological perspective; that is, the emotions have been seen as genetically determined and relatively invariable responses. The present chapter, by contrast, views the emotions as social constructions. More precisely, the emotions are here defined as socially constituted syndromes or transitory social roles. A role-conception does not deny the contribution of biological systems to emotional syndromes; it does, however, imply that the functional significance of emotional responses is to be found largely within the sociocultural system. With regard to subjective experience, a person interprets his own behavior as emotional in much the same way that an actor interprets a role“with feeling.” This involves not only the monitoring of behavior (including feedback from physiological arousal, facial expressions, etc.), but also an understanding of how the emotional role fits into a larger“drama” written by society. Some of the biological, personal, and situational factors that influence emotional behavior are also discussed.
MacDonaldMichael. Mystical Bedlam: Madness, Anxiety, and Healing in Seventeenth-Century England. New York: Cambridge University Press. (Cambridge Monographs on the History of Medicine.) 1981. Pp. 323. $39.95. - Volume 13 Issue 4 - Peter McCandless